Saurav Malhotra

Saurav Malhotra is a leader in ecological renewal, focusing on empowering rural tribal communities in the Eastern Himalayan region. His pioneering efforts began in the tribal areas of Assam and Nagaland, where he developed the Rural Futures model. This innovative approach laid the foundations for the Rural Futures Index and the Rural Futures Fellowship, which have gained significant recognition for their impactful work in ecological restoration and community empowerment.

The Rural Futures model is a comprehensive framework for ecological and community renewal. It integrates traditional forestry and farming practices with contemporary scientific data, aiming to empower indigenous youth to lead sustainable restoration efforts. This model started with a series of pilots across North-East India and now encompasses a growing network of indigenous men and women from communities across the Eastern Himalayan region.

The model's philosophy is rooted in the belief that if young people see an economic future in the forest—one that helps preserve and rebuild it—they will be less likely to migrate. By drawing on both traditional knowledge and modern science, the model fosters a holistic approach to forest and agricultural land restoration, ensuring that economic and ecological sustainability go hand in hand.

In tandem with this, Saurav and his team launched the Rural Futures Fellowship, an 18-month apprenticeship program designed to equip youth from the East Himalayan region and across India with the skills, knowledge, and mindset needed to become effective leaders and changemakers. This fellowship targets young people, providing them with the tools to combat climate change and ecological degradation. The program emphasizes post-fellowship funding to encourage fellows to build their own organizations and start businesses, tapping into the global movement towards sustainable supply chains and investments in nature-based solutions. Fellows undergo rigorous training in geo-mapping, forestry services, and other technologies, learning to identify, plan, and organize restoration work throughout the year. The program also focuses on women empowerment, training women in mushroom cultivation and other sustainable practices to ensure food security and economic independence.

Saurav and his leadership team were the first to develop a tool, the Rural Futures Index (RuFu Index), to strategically target areas for intervention and monitor impact. The RuFu Index is a fluid tool consisting of two parts, a demographic survey complemented by a questionnaire in several parts that can be modified depending on regional context. Rural Futures Fellows are trained in using this tool during the Fellowship to collect, analyze and map data. The Index seeks to participatorily build a new index that is responsive and sensitive to the context of the Eastern Himalayan Region, from Nepal to Myanmar. This Index centers on ecology, aspirations & wellbeing, socioeconomic growth & sustainable sustenance, and stakeholders & participation. By using this index, the team identified struggling farming lands in North-East India and transitioned them from monocropping to intercropping (agroforestry) solutions. This approach addressed ecological degradation, such as declining water levels and soil health, while maintaining the economic viability of tea farming. Through the RuFu Index, Saurav and his team seek to link together how ecological, social, economic and cultural wellbeing impact each other and contribute to overall wellbeing among the rural and indigenous communities.

Long-term objectives focus on agroforestry's sustainable yields, enhancing food security, and fostering self-reliant forest community networks. By leveraging a proven 40% increase in incomes among direct beneficiaries, this comprehensive approach aims to curb outward migration through reforestation, afforestation, and agroforestry programs. Saurav envisions creating biodiversity-rich ecosystems resilient to environmental and climate uncertainties, crafting forests for a climate resilient future.

In addition to his work with Rural Futures at the Balipara Foundation, Saurav spearheaded the Great People's Forest (GPF) initiative. Launched jointly by Conservation International and the Balipara Foundation in September 2023, the GPF aims to plant a billion trees and restore a million hectares of land by 2030. The Great People’s Forest has successfully raised $5.7 million to kickstart restoration projects in North-East India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

The GPF initiative has brought together six leading organizations from the Eastern Himalayan region, including the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Bhutan Ecological Society (BES), Bhutan Trust for Environment Conservation (BTF), and Friendship NGO, led by Ashoka Fellow Runa Khan. This coalition aims to restore vast tracts of land and enhance biodiversity across the region – ultimately delivering climate resilience to the 240 million people who call this region home.

Saurav and his team saw the problem of topsoil degradation and reduced crop yield as a common phenomenon across the Eastern Himalayan region. Year after year, more chemical fertilizers were required to maintain crop yield outputs, and this was reinforced by a system that subsidized the practice of deforestation and fertilizers.

While many would accept this as an environmental tradeoff for economic growth, Saurav knew that this was not what sustainable farming ought to look like. over 100,000 hectares of forest cover is lost each year in north east India, according to the data provided by the State and satellite mapping by Google and other companies that provide data for levels of deforestation in the region. However, this data is likely an undercount, as most plantations and other green cover areas are not counted as forest areas. Saurav and his team, with mapping of the region and better understanding human needs through the RuFu Index, have realized the problem was much more grievous, leading to immediate and dire consequences of climate change to local indigenous communities.

The Eastern Himalayas have experienced a consistent increase in average temperatures over recent decades, with studies indicating a rise of approximately 0.6°C per decade, significantly higher than the global average, as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This warming trend has had severe ecological impacts, contributing to declining wildlife and biodiversity. The region, known for its elephant population, has seen these majestic animals face habitat loss and increased human-wildlife conflicts, with the Asian Elephant now classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Additionally, the Eastern Himalayas, with two global biodiversity hotspots, are witnessing a decline in key species such as the Bengal tiger, red panda, and various birds, primarily due to habitat destruction and climate change. Deforestation rates are alarmingly high as vast areas are cleared annually for tea plantations, rubber, and other industrial farming activities. Reports from organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) highlight that thousands of plant species, many endemic and crucial for local ecosystems and traditional medicines, are rapidly declining due to these land-use changes. These environmental challenges underscore the urgent need for conservation efforts and sustainable land management to preserve the unique ecological heritage of the Eastern Himalayas.

Saurav focuses on the issues surrounding these livelihood, sustainability, and access to financial services intersections as a backdrop towards the strategy and model through which the Rural Futures model brings about rural transformation and holistic development.

Saurav sheds light on essential insights gleaned from his work and the RuFu Index. He underscores a fundamental truth – people desire a well–lived life, centered around accessing vital services, investing in family and children, and securing jobs that facilitate these aspirations. The significance of ancestral lands is pivotal, often preventing migration fueled by economic challenges. Climate vulnerability notably impacts household incomes. Active participation stands out as crucial, with communities aspiring to control their development, engage in decision-making, and shape their climate resilient futures. Economic pressures, however, threaten regenerative relationships with nature for nature-dependent communities. Lastly, Saurav recognizes women as catalysts for change, showcasing entrepreneurial prowess in handloom and silk cultivation while actively engaging in Self Help Groups and village councils to enhance their communities.

Saurav and his team addressed the economic motivation for deforestation by creating a conservation and livelihood plan that is human-centric, focusing on human growth and well-being as key indicators for sustained ecological growth and biodiversity enhancement. He integrates indigenous knowledge systems into this model, making it scalable. The approach includes indigenous people and leverages their expertise on native plants, such as moringa (drumstick tree), making these plants profitable through ethno-botanic studies and connecting them with existing supply chains. By understanding the historical role of humans in enhancing biodiversity, such as in the pre-agrarian Amazon basin 7000 years ago, Saurav applies relevant insights to communities in the Eastern Himalayas, designing a model that intertwines economic and ecological sustainability.

Rural Futures achieves this at the local level, by working with tribal communities, especially youth, to enhance capacities and preserve the existing community organizations (such as Joint Forest Management Committees and other community-based groups) for sustainable management and restoration of forests, as well as traditional practices. Saurav also works with youth from the communities to build their capacities in geo-mapping, forestry services, and other technologies. This is done through an 18-month apprenticeship program that provides the youth with fundamental skills to identify, plan, and organize work during the different seasons of the year. This in turn promotes the building of youth-driven organizations to advocate and prevent losing their traditional institutions. Women empowerment is also key to their strategy and women from the community are skilled in leading mushroom cultivation units ensuring food security.

Natural assets, profits from agroforestry and rewilding efforts carried out by Rural Futures planters, are reinvested through community-based resource management groups, training and developing communities, community-led scientific habitat restoration, and livelihoods through natural capital regeneration. The result is an improvement in sustainable use of resources, providing greater access to drinking and recycled water, renewable energy to power households and infrastructure, education furthering native knowledge and nature learning, transformative living and community spaces with sustainable low-carbon design, and income security as a result of sustainable livelihood options. Livelihoods are improved through the process of regeneration and habitat regeneration provides underlying value for the delivery of universal basic assets, while preserving native strains and improving biodiversity by enhancing agricultural processes like agroforestry.

During the course of the Rural Futrues Fellowship, Fellows collect and analyze data from communities and map insights through the RuFu Index. This tool helps in selecting the most strategic spots and areas for intervention, ensuring the approach is sensitive to regional contexts. The index is integral in assessing and responding to the socio-ecological dynamics of the Eastern Himalayan region, facilitating targeted actions for reforestation, agroforestry, and ecological restoration.

At the state level, over the past five years, Saurav has involved Assamese officials in monitoring and selection of sites. This has led to the state government’s collaboration on restoring lands jointly. This work is also being extended to surrounding areas of the eastern Himalayas, including Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur. Following field tests across countries of the region, the RuFu Index will be made available for cross-sectoral usage to better understand implications of development on land use and ultimately on human development indices. Saurav aims to connect local youth-driven organizations launched by Rural Futures fellows back to indigenous communities, to further their objectives while making the strategy replicable nationally because the model adapts itself to its area. Saurav’s team have plans to replicate the fellowship in Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

In terms of numbers, The Rural Futures model of agroforestry adds $233 per month to household incomes, increasing to $510 within a few months in best cases. As a result of this work, the average increase in immediate income within the first year of involvement through both rewilding and agroforestry is 40%, with an additional 40% increase in women’s incomes through mushroom cultivation, across the 70-80 tribal communities that he is working with. A case study shows the detail of impact at the family level. Aarti, a farmer in Assam, noticed that the water levels had begun to decline drastically in her area. By inculcating Rural Futures agroforestry model into her own farm, Aarti saw a rapid increase in water levels and topsoil health, where she could now grow various vegetables and indigenous crops. Through this model, her income increased from $75 per month to $450 per month in 3-4 months from taking up the model.

He continues to build and strengthen national and international coalitions to globalize his strategy by teaming up with organizations across the Himalayan region; for instance, with a partnership with Conservation International, Saurav and his team launched the Great People’s Forest initiative as a part of India’s G20 Presidency. This initiative was launched by India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant and Secretary of the Ministry of Forests, Environment and Climate Change, Leena Nandan in September 2023 in New Delhi. The Great People’s Forest has brought together 6 leading organisations from the Eastern Himalayan region – The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Bhutan Ecological Society (BES), Bhutan Trust for Environment Conservation (BTF) and Friendship NGO (led by Ashoka Fellow Runa Khan) to come onboard as Founding Implementing Partners. The Great People’s Forest will restore 1 million hectares of land across North-East India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh by 2030 by adding 1 billion trees to the landscape.

Saurav grew up in Assam, a state known for its forest cover, and was exposed to nature at a young age with many family holidays spent out in nature – especially around Nameri and Kaziranga National Parks in Assam. Being around nature also aided Saurav in becoming aware of the horrors of poaching and external threats to wildlife. As a child, Saurav was also exposed to the realities of slashing and burning forests for agricultural land. He gravitated toward biology in school and did his graduation in biotechnology. Saurav’s interest in biology was focused on understanding the pre-existing functioning of biodiversity, which was full of mysteries, rather than applying man-made theories to subjects.

Saurav pursued higher education in biology between the UK and Europe and spent a lot of his time outdoors exploring nature across the European subcontinent. After having done this for years he found a newfound appreciation for biodiversity in the region where he grew up – north east India, which he had witnessed in childhood. This was the turning point in Saurav’s search for his life’s mission. He decided to devote himself to finding ways to safeguard the biodiversity of ecosystems beginning in the Eastern Himalayas. In 2016, he returned to Guwahati, Assam, and took up a position as a full-time volunteer doing research on wildlife and forest ecology for the Balipara Foundation. Interactions with ecological biodiverse and local communities made him curious about the functions and working of the seamless, natural world. The pivotal point was in 2017 when Saurav realized that he needed to start working full time on the idea of creating the Rural Futures model.

Saurav launched Rural Futures as a part of Balipara Foundation in 2017 and has since worked extensively on creating incomes linked to forest restoration among rural and forest-fringe communities, paving the way for socioeconomic mobility linked to natural capital regeneration. As of April 2024, Saurav dedicates 100% of his time to the Great Peoples Forest initiative at Conservation International, and the leadership team at the Balipara Foundation continues to advance the work of Rural Futures.